


Let this time be for you and I

by DaifukuBun



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Leokumi Week, M/M, Modern AU, Running Away, and the crimes that come with it, don't look at me, i just want them to be happy ok, this is entirely self-indulgent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-05-16
Packaged: 2018-06-07 08:06:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6796024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaifukuBun/pseuds/DaifukuBun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I don’t either.” Leo says. Takumi shuts his eyes. “And so we won’t. We’ll never go back.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lavender Sunday

Takumi is alight with the fever of Spring and its blooms when he finds his way back to Leo, a bounce in his step and his hair fanning through the air like it holds its very own smile. He’s pleasantly ruffled and, never ceasing a boyish grin, he holds what he had gone on the run for in the first place toward the sky. 

“I’m impressed.” Leo says, letting himself smile in return. He doesn’t think he’s capable of quite the same smile that the other boy produces, but Leo tries, nonetheless.

The bag of apples is brought back downward, and Takumi’s grin melts into something with less teeth. “Now we’ll be set for the week.” he says, the fruits hanging at his side. “Where do you wanna go?”

Leo’s eyes follow the bag, and in the dark of the alleyway, he’s glad that he’s not alone. 

“Anywhere.” he says, his smile quivering a little. He laughs, then, quiet. “Anywhere.” escapes his mouth again, and in the misplaced heat of the alley, he rakes his bangs away from his eyes.

Truly, he can’t believe he is where he is. 

“Anywhere?” Takumi parrots, eyebrows lifting.

“Anywhere.”

Leo lets his hair fall once more, and he shuts his eyes, feeling peace. There’s a rustle, then, and soon something cold is pressed onto his forehead. He opens his eyes only to meet those of the other boy, who’s holding a ripe, red fruit to Leo’s head, smiling still with a gaze that means something else.

“Then let’s get going.”

 

-

 

“It’s because I used to steal sweets from the kitchen. No one ever noticed me.” Takumi says. “I know how to sneak around.”

Leo nods, before he realizes that Takumi hadn’t seen the gesture, since he’s walking ahead. “I see.” he says, speeding up in order to walk side by side. Still, Takumi manages a steadier pace than him. “Could you slow down?”

“Sure, sorry.” comes the reply, and the ash blond stops for a moment, peering over his shoulder. They start up again afterward, and in the heat they’re bathed in a silence that’s both comfortable and thriving. 

A crow glides overhead in the stark blue sky, and Leo swallows the lump in his throat, paying attention to the feeling of kicking dirt with every step. They’re a ways from town now, walking next to a field of dry grass, listening to the sounds of both the outside and their own silence. Water is flowing somewhere, babbling to thin air.

“I do, too.” Leo says.

“Huh?”

“I know how to sneak around, too. I did the same things you did.”

Takumi turns his head toward Leo, not watching where he’s going. “I’m not surprised.” he says, blinking widely. The bag of apples still swings at his side, now missing two. His smile falls, and he looks ahead once more. “Still, I had to do it.”

Leo chews at his lip. “We could have bought them.”

“We have to save our money if we’re gonna go away.” Takumi says, easy. Leo watches him sidelong, watches the way his honey-colored eyes flit to the sky, watches how his hair sways, how he’s got a face so kind and sweet it’s deceiving. He remembers being on the boy’s bad side, and how the feeling had been reciprocated. Back then, Takumi’s face had been an almost comedic contrast to his attitude, but now… now, it fits him to a tee. 

A car speeds past, and Leo remembers where he is. In a remote field, following a lone road to the next town over. He thinks about how Takumi is walking slower than he would normally, just to let him keep up.

“You know…” he says, and after he says it, he sort of regrets it.

“Hm?” Takumi hums.

Leo takes a moment to bite his inner cheek. “Nothing.”

Takumi is quiet, before he makes an odd, breathy noise. He reaches up, smacking the other boy on the back of his head. “Now I want to know.”

Recoiling forward, Leo smiles, blaming the season for the warmth in his complexion. He stands straight once more, and the crow above them caws loudly.

 

-

 

There’s some red on Takumi’s shoulders, and Leo wonders if it stings. He doesn’t say anything, though, knowing he has no right to when he’s wrapped up in a sweater and the other boy wears only a tank top. 

The seats of the train are cold, but the air of it is colder, and the lights above them flicker in the evening light. 

“The only good thing about your weird fashion sense is that it’s warm.” Takumi says from Leo’s shoulder. 

“I get cold easily.” he says, explaining what the boy already knows.

“I know.” Takumi says. Leo blinks, slow, letting his eyes stay shut longer than necessary. 

“You know that.”

“Mhm, I’ve seen it firsthand.”

Leos shuts his eyes again, breathing easy. The train jostles a little, and the lights swing, going black for a split second. Only one other person is aboard, and they’re on the other side of the car. “When I was younger,” he begins, “I used to wear a cape when I was cold.”

Takumi sits up then. “What?”

“What do you think of when you picture a cape?”

Takumi furrows his eyebrows, looking elsewhere. “I don’t know, a superhero?”

“Right.” Leo says, nodding. Takumi settles down again, but his face is still scrunched from confusion. 

“Now think of a supervillain. Like the ones with the pointy collars attached to their capes. That’s what I used to wear.”

Takumi is quiet, and after a few moments the train brakes, screeching to a halt. The one other person on board stands, grabbing their things and leaving through the sliding doors. Once they’re gone, Takumi’s shoulders start to shake, and he giggles breathily.

“Are you serious?”

“I don’t think I would make that up.”

“That’s so lame.”

“I thought it made me look like a wizard.” Leo shrugs, before he remembers that the other boy is leaning on his shoulder. “Sorry.”

In response, Takumi shrugs himself. The train starts up again, and while it does the doors shut once again. 

Blooming trees race past outside, bathing in an orange glow. It could have been hours before either one of them spoke again, or it could have been minutes. Within that time the sun had receded behind the horizon, and the world had been covered in lavender. It reminds Leo of where he had been.

“I don’t think I want to ever go back.” Takumi says.

Leo picks a stray string out of his pants, eyeing the stains on the floor of the train. His fingers splay across the fabric, before he sighs, silent. The lavender will fade to black soon. He reaches downward, brushing his knuckles across the Takumi’s wrist. 

A still moment, before a breath leaves the other boy, and his hand moves to hold Leo’s. The roughness of Takumi’s skin, and the softness of his own, mean nothing. Nothing while the sky is still lavender, and they’re just in each other’s proximity. It matters not how they differ or how they’re the same. All that matters, is that within each other, they find understanding.

“I don’t either.” Leo says. Takumi shuts his eyes. “And so we won’t. We’ll never go back.”


	2. White Monday

“You’d think I’d remember to bring something for it.”

Leo shakes his head. He blinks, and a dab of water drops from his eyelashes onto his cheek. It falls like a tear, and with his sleeve he wipes it elsewhere. 

“You’d think we’d remember to bring anything at all.” Leo says in response, his fingers pausing at a particularly ornery snarl in the other boy’s hair. “I don’t know if it’s that we forgot, rather we were focused on other things.”

Takumi leans forward, farther away. Leo scoots closer and continues combing through the other boy’s hair with his hand, doing the best he can even though they’re both soaked to the bone. Rain pounds against the roof of the abandoned building, and if he were to sit still, Leo is certain that he would feel it vibrating the very ground. 

“We didn’t even bring spare clothes.” he continues. “A brush is the least of our worries.”

Takumi nods, and in the process Leo’s hand gets tangled. He bites his lip and sets about removing it, his other hand resting on the back of Takumi’s shoulder. 

“But we’re fine.” Takumi says, and his voice resounds off the hollow, dusted walls of the decrepit building. He leans back, unkempt hair touching the ground. Leo collects the strands and sets them on his lap, not wanting them to get dirty. “We’ll be fine.”

Leo squints his eyes. He’s never been able to discern the exact color of Takumi’s hair. In the sun, he’s a dusty sort of blond, but in the nonexistent light of the building, he thinks it’s almost gray. 

“Of course we will.” he hears himself say. His voice, too, echoes off the walls, and he thinks that he doesn’t sound like himself. Leo wonders why it is that the voice one speaks with and the voice that others hear are different.

Takumi turns, then, looking over his shoulder, and Leo still keeps hold of the tips of his hair, so that it doesn’t touch the ground. There’s a glimmer of light on the other boy's cheek, visible thanks to a broken moonlit window, and somewhere deep Leo feels something warm. He’s not sure what kind of smile he makes, but there’s a pull in his cheek and Takumi does the same thing, only Leo thinks that Takumi does it better. 

“We should probably sleep if we’re going into town again tomorrow.” Takumi says, and Leo watches the way his lips frame each syllable.

The apples had lasted only a day, a problem they both decided to laugh at rather than worry about. It would be okay. All they needed was a new plan. It will be okay, Leo thinks, and he falls forward just a bit, his forehead making contact with the bare skin of the other boy’s shoulder. Takumi startles, but soon he settles again.

“Tired?”

“I think so.” Leo murmurs. After they had disembarked the train, they had walked some more, acquiring throbbing feet and tired minds. Leo doesn’t think he’s ever walked so much in his life. 

Takumi turns again, and Leo sputters as a curtain of wet hair slaps him in the face. Either the culprit doesn’t notice, or he doesn’t say anything. 

“Over there looks dry enough.” he says, pointing to a corner in which there are no puddles of mud. Leo nods, unsticking Takumi’s hair from his face. 

“We can use my sweater as a pillow.”

“You have something under it?” Takumi turns again, and Leo dodges his hair. His eyebrows are raised. Leo stumbles at the concern, thinking about how the other boy has been in only a tank top this entire time.

_ “It’s Spring.”  _ he had said.  _ “It’ll be fine.” _

To emphasize, Leo pulls up the sleeve of his sweater to reveal a back shirt with long sleeves. Takumi stares for a second, before he blurts into a tiny sort of laughter. “How are you not dying of heat?”

“How are you not freezing to death?” Leo fires back, lifting one eyebrow over the other. Takumi’s eyes melt into crescents, and his gaze flits elsewhere as his face lifts into a sardonic smile.

“Never said I wasn’t.”

Leo blinks, before he huffs, taking in how the soaked fabric of the other boy’s shirt droops over his skin. Takumi falters, and Leo worries that he looks angry when he really isn’t. He sets about pinching the other boy’s soaked shirt, head buzzing at how cold it is between his fingers. In his own sweater, the only thing Leo feels is heavy. He can tell that Takumi is regretting his earlier admittance. 

“It’s fine.” Takumi mutters, his cheeks pinking from either the cold or embarrassment. Leo thinks that perhaps it’s both. “It’ll get warmer.” Takumi continues, standing. Leo looks up at him, how his hair sticks to him in the oddest of places. A hand is offered to him, and Takumi never ceases his frown. 

Leo thinks about being chided by his brother because he used to walk through snow in nothing but a loose shirt to go to the library. He takes the hand. Xander is fine without him. 

The feet beneath him are wobbly, and Leo finds that he’d like to get to where they’re going as soon as possible. Takumi still frowns his way, and Leo parts their hands, staying linked by one finger. He steps toward the aforementioned corner, and in the pounded silence, their footsteps reverberate off the walls. Thunder cracks from somewhere far away.

“If it keeps raining we can stay here.” Leo says. Takumi’s hand twitches, and he strains his finger to keep up with the other boy. Leo wonders if he’s about to collapse. It’s not every day that he’s the faster one. 

“What about food?”

“We’ll manage.” he murmurs. Leo places his hand on the wall, before releasing the other boy and sitting in the dry corner. He pulls his sweater over his head, wincing at how its soaking threads drag against his skin. When it’s off, he fusses with his hair and Takumi takes it from his hands, balling it up and setting it on the ground. 

“Manage with what?” Takumi wonders, sitting too. 

“Humans can live for at least a week without food, and there’s plenty of water around here.”

Another clap of thunder. Leo finishes fixing his hair, before he feels something boring into him. He turns toward Takumi, who’s gaping at him like a fish.

“... What?”

“Are you serious?” Takumi panic-whispers, his eyes wide. Leo begins to recline, sliding forward, his elbows on the cruel ground. 

“Of course not.” he says, smirking something small. “You’ll stay here while I go get something.”

Takumi puffs his cheeks full of air. He tucks a strand of hair behind his ear, before mirroring Leo’s actions. “I don’t think so. I’m coming too.”

“Not until we get you something better to wear.”

“I’ll wear your sweater.”

Leo pauses, blinking. Honestly, he hadn’t thought of that. “Do you want to wear it now?”

“No.” quips Takumi. He rests his head gently against the soggy piece of clothing, sighing out a big burden. “I can’t sleep without a pillow.”

“That’s quite an issue, considering where we are right now.” Leo says, blinking once more and resting his head, too, on the sweater. He doesn’t sigh like Takumi does, but he feels his entire body melt into the earth like sand. 

They lie there for a while, side by side, but skewed acutely. The ceiling above them mirrors the floor, cracked and broken. Thunder roars once more, and seconds later the building is entranced in an instant, brilliant white. Leo is fond of storms, but not like this.

“Hey.” Takumi says. His voice is a lot more brittle than it had been just seconds earlier. Leo turns his head, only to find Takumi already looking at him. 

“Yes?”

Takumi blinks, his eyes drooping. His face is neutral, but if he squints Leo thinks he can see sleepy contentment. 

“Come here, yeah?” 

Sleepy contentment, he thinks, but he has no idea what else the boy is feeling. Leo doesn’t realize that his heartbeat quickens despite how exhausted he is. He stays where he is, face frozen into something that is apparently quite comical.

“I can’t sleep without a blanket either.” Takumi laughs, his hair beginning to slide down his face. Instinctively, Leo reaches for him, tucking the hair behind his ear. He looks elsewhere, finding that for some reason, he can’t look at Takumi’s face right now. His hand stays where it is, though, and he bites his lip. 

“That is a problem.” he hears himself say, and as a fog makes itself known in his head, he realizes that his face is probably dyed crimson. 

“Mhm.” Takumi hums. Leo finally looks at him again, finding that his eyes are closed. He swallows.

“Liar. You’re already falling asleep.” 

A small smile flits across Takumi’s features and Leo wills away the flush heating his own. There’s no reply, and against the other boy’s cheek, his fingers curl a bit. 

_ Beautiful. _

Leo hushes the word, his eyes squeezing shut. The heat in his face returns tenfold, and his lip quivers a bit in frustration.

“Wow, you look like a tomato.”

Eyes snapping open, they meet Takumi’s half-lidded ones. His soft smile is still in place, and Leo wonders if it’s possible to be killed by the smile of another. 

“I love tomatoes.” he blurts, before shutting his eyes once again and gritting his teeth. 

“I know.” Takumi laughs, out of place. It’s not a chuckle, but a bark in the silence. Leo opens one eye, wondering if his pride will still be intact tomorrow. 

The earth rumbles with thunder, and the air flashes white once more. The storm is right above them, now. 

“Come here, please.” Takumi murmurs. “We’ll decide what to do tomorrow.”

Leo sighs, his breath faltering, shaking. He rolls over nonetheless, bracing himself as if he’s about to land in a pit of nails. Instead, his nose is met with the sopping fabric of Takumi’s shirt, and he shudders out a breath, wondering what’s gotten into him.

_ Beautiful, with his hair falling like that. _

He curls his fist into the boy’s shirt too, and something warm snakes across his back. For some reason, Leo wills away the threat of tears. Another warm thing ghosts across the back of his head, and idly, his hair is tossed around. 

_ Stop that. I’m going to cry. _

“Leo?”

He twitches, indicating that he’s listening. Words won’t leave him right now, he finds. 

“... Never mind. You know it already.”

In the dark, Leo’s eyes open. He can’t see anything, and rain begins to pour down his face. Whether he’s shuddering or not doesn’t concern him. The only things that matter are the hands on his back and head, the first hands to ever grace him in such a way. He’s warm even though it’s freezing, and with his breath Takumi’s chest rises and falls.

_ I love you too _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm slowly dying as I write this.


	3. Navy Tuesday

Morning rolls in like an assault, bright light filtering in through the many cracks of their derelict shelter. Leo squeezes his eyes shut immediately after opening them, turning away from the gaudy rays of sun and stirring the other boy in the process.

He freezes as Takumi moves, wondering whether it’s true morning or time to sleep some more. The chirps of birds pierce through broken windows, and with the hand tickling at the back of his head once more Leo finds that it’s time to wake up. 

“Your hair is dry.” is the first thing Takumi says to him under the morning sun, and Leo blinks, lifting his own hand to ruffle the short strands atop his head. He finds them not only dry, but quite soft as well. 

“So it is.” 

Their eyes meet, Takumi leaning forward and Leo craning his head upward. 

“Mine’s still wet.” Takumi says, before yawning widely, lifting the hand that had rested on Leo’s back in front of his face. He blinks away sleep, then, wiping at his eyes with his wrist. Leo huffs a short breath through his nose, lips quirking up on one side. 

_ Cute, too.  _

“What?” Takumi says.

Leo jumps, sitting up and meeting a pair of sleepy eyes. “What?” Leo parrots. He hopes to every god there is he hadn’t just said that out loud. 

“You were staring at me.” Takumi blinks, before following suit and sitting up. He scratches at his head, messing up a few flyaway strands of hair. Leo practically deflates from relief. 

“Nothing.” he says, shaking his head. Takumi reaches into the pocket of his shorts, retrieving a red ribbon and setting about tying his hair up.

“Decided to give up?” Leo asks. 

“Until we find a brush or something, yeah.” Takumi says, pulling the ribbon into a tight knot. It’s not all that pretty, wet and filthy from the ground, but it will do for the wak. 

Right, the walk. The smile that had been forming on Leo’s face vanishes instantly. 

“Oh, damn.” Takumi starts. “It’s all dirty from the ground. Is it bad?” he asks, pulling his hair’s entirety over his shoulder and examining it himself. Leo surmises that it had been a useless question, as the look on the other boy’s face is already a distasteful grimace. 

Standing, Leo pulls his arms in front of himself, stretching out the almost immeasurable discomfort that’s made its home in his body. He frowns at a particularly ornery pop in his neck, and wonders when he’ll next sleep in a bed, if ever. Underneath his weight, Leo’s legs protest at the idea of another fitful day. 

“At least it’s not raining anymore.” Takumi grumbles from below, and Leo turns his attention toward him. The boy still sits on the floor, picking specks of dirt from his hair. 

“Are you cold?” 

Takumi pauses, looking up at the question. His mouth pulls into a small frown. “It’s warm outside now.” he says, honeyed eyes adamant. Leo steps forward, bending down to pick up his discarded sweater. It’s still mostly wet, but he tries to shake the dirt out anyway, brushing it away with his hands. To his left Takumi stands, and Leo holds the sweater in front of himself. 

“Are you gonna put it back on?” the boy asks, arms stretched high above his head. A pop resounds, and Leo wonders if Takumi had just pulled a muscle.

“I was going to put it on you.” Leo says. Takumi stills, craning his head toward the sweater.

“How about no.” he says after a pebble falls from its confines. Leo shrugs, before tying it around his waist. “That looks dumb.”

“If you have any other ideas, speak up.” Leo says offhandedly before he begins to wander, sweater swaying with each and every step. There’s a bit of quiet as he looks to the sky, before Takumi follows, and they peer out a broken window together. A breeze whispers their direction, and Leo pushes his headband farther back. 

A piece of hair teases into Leo’s eye, and he blows it elsewhere. 

“Do you think they’re looking for us yet?” 

Leo stills, looking sidelong at the other boy. His hair is blonde once again in the sun, and his profile strong. The image vanishes when Leo shuts his eyes.

“Certainly.” he says. Takumi takes in an audible breath, and Leo’s eyes shut tighter. Something a bit like dread settles in his gut. Seconds later, he realizes that it’s guilt. 

“Yeah.” the boy says softly. “Yeah. Ryoma is probably really worried.”

Leo thinks about Xander when he panics, how he’s so quiet and stubborn and how he ends up hurting himself in the end. Leo knows that he does the same thing, and so he can’t help but worry, knowing how it feels to be so cold. He opens his eyes, and the morning is still bright. Still.

“If you want to go back, I won’t stop you.” he hears himself say. Even the wind seems to stop, then, and a single bird flies through the impenetrable sky. 

Takumi breathes, even, before he speaks.

“Even if I wanted to, you know I couldn’t.”

“That’s not true.” Leo says. “You could.”

“Leo.”

The wind starts up again. A nearby tree rustles, and its leaves create fractal shadows in the earth. Leo doesn’t realize that his nails are jutting into his palms until something ghosts against his knuckles, and he breathes again. He takes the hand offered to him.

“It’s funny.” Takumi says, after a long moment. “Usually, you’re the one calming me down.”

Leo squeezes the other boy’s hand hard enough to bruise and knows that Takumi can handle it. A bird lands in the fractal tree, before it sings a nonsense song.

 

-

 

“I’d carry you.”

Leo chuckles despite how out of breath he is. He steps over a rock, and a truck passes by. The next town is within sight, and again they wonder about public transportation. 

“I doubt you could carry me.”

“I totally could.” Takumi laughs. “You’re taller than me but I have more muscle. I bet I could lift you up no problem.”

Leo rolls his eyes as a long blade of grass rushes past his pants. The sweater around his hips is surely dry by now, but it’s far too hot to even think about wearing it. 

“If that were to actually happen I would definitely carry you.” 

Leo tries his best not to breathe through his mouth. He’s not sure whether the boy was right, but Takumi had said earlier that breathing with one’s nose in the heat conserves energy. 

“Maybe we should stop talking about what would happen if I were to collapse from thirst and start thinking about what we’re going to do when we get to town.” Leo says, disgruntled by his own parched breath. They had both taken long drinks of rainwater that morning (surely that wasn’t very healthy, but they didn’t have much of a choice) and were already feeling the effects of dehydration.

“You’re just trying to deny that I could totally carry you.”

“We don’t have much money left.” Leo whisks the conversation away from the previous topic with ease. Even his eyes are beginning to burn under the heat of the sun. 

“We didn’t have much to begin with.” Takumi says. “Wanna go sit on the street and beg?”

A laugh sputters its way out of Leo’s throat. It occurs to him only then that they are truly, honestly, homeless. He supposes that laughter is the best way to get by. 

“I was thinking we’d work for a living.”

“Mm, don’t think that’s an option anymore.” Takumi says, looking up at the sky. Leo glances his way sidelong. 

“It’s as much of an option as begging on the street.”

“Not if you do it carefully it isn’t.”

“You make it sound like you have experience.” 

“Ha!” Takumi laughs. “That would be the day.” he says, then, softer. Leo can feel himself smiling, and he’s glad that Takumi is with him. It’s because he’s with him that he can still smile after all that’s happened. It’s because he had given up so much to come with him that he doesn’t take it for granted.

Leo knows that he’s loved. It’s a phenomenon, but he knows it. To the left a car veers by too fast, sending dirt their way. He watches as Takumi mutters curses and makes obscene hand gestures toward the vehicle. The boy trips, then, nearly falling, but steadies himself. Leo feels his eyes start to droop, just a little. 

“We gotta bathe sometime.” Takumi mutters after he’s finished his rampage. Leo isn’t sure whether that was meant for him or the boy himself, but he hums in agreement, nonetheless. 

Takumi turns to him, and when he does his hair follows the motion, flowing like a ribbon. The blue sky behind his silhouette works wonders, and as he begins to smile, his impossibly light hair a miniscule gold under the sun, Leo swears his heart stops for just a fraction of a second.

“We’ll find something in town.” he says, not registering how the words had left his mouth robotically. He parts his lips, at last giving in and breathing in livid air. 

Takumi continues to smile, placing one foot in front of the other as he begins the advance toward Leo, and it’s only then that Leo starts to wonder exactly  _ why _ the boy is smiling. 

Before this thought can fully process, he’s lifted from the ground, held by wobbly arms. A sharp sound leaves him, something like a yelp, and he starts to squirm, uneasy as Takumi steps back with the force of his weight. 

Leo is in the air for only a short while, before Takumi makes a strangled noise and falls backwards, pulling him down with him. A puff of air rises with their combined weight, and beneath him Takumi begins to tremble. Dazed, Leo looks up, only to find that the other boy is laughing. Laughing, under a bright, bright sun and a blue, blue sky, his face contorted into a boyish glee that Leo considers himself lucky for witnessing. He knows that Takumi wouldn’t show this side of himself to just anyone. 

Another car drives past, sending dirt in their direction once more. Takumi starts to cough rather than laugh, then, inhaling dirt and sinfully dry air. Leo sits up, his legs on either side of the boy’s middle. 

“I told you I could carry you.” Takumi struggles to say between coughs, and a tear of something other than sadness rolls down his face. From laughing too hard or from the itch in the boy’s eyes, Leo doesn’t know, but his heart is swelling and a familiar set of chills is pacing down his spine. 

The shadow of a bird passes by the time Takumi has calmed down, and within himself Leo feels contentment. 

“Takumi.”

The boy perks up, but his head is still in the dirt. “Yeah?”

Leo’s pulse thrums in tandem with something both anticipatory and at home. He had thought about asking, but realizes that he knows the answer already. Takumi’s eyes reflect the blue of the sky, and Leo thinks to himself that the twin pools beneath him appear a nebula. A nebula that’s familiar, a nebula that he calls his home.

He leans down, pressing his smile into Takumi’s. Both of their lips are chapped, but Leo finds that he doesn’t care. Instead he focuses on his own pulse and the fact that Takumi has begun giggling against his lips. 

The word  _ beautiful _ crosses his mind again, and when he opens his eyes to search a familiar set of stars, he finds that he doesn’t deny it. 


	4. Silver Wednesday

“We could… be professional pickpockets.”

Leo scoffs, holding his hands under the cold spout of water longer than necessary. He turns off the faucet, shaking flecks of water away from his fingers. Takumi folds his arms. 

“Bad idea?”

“Yes, bad idea.” Leo says, pacing around the public bathroom and shaking his hands this way and that. Takumi smiles at what Leo thinks might be his antics, but he could be wrong. Perhaps when they leave he’ll tell the staff that they’re out of paper towels. “We’re supposed to be  _ hiding  _ from the law, not breaking it.”

“Yeah, see, but I’m not so sure running away from the law is very legal either.” Takumi says, puffing his cheeks full of air. He moves his hands this way and that, articulating his words with them. “This way, we keep doing what we’re doing  _ and  _ we get money.”

“If I didn’t know you as well as I do I’d think you were serious.”

Takumi laughs, then, dry. His hands fall to his sides, and Leo stops pacing. There’s a speck of mud on the other boy’s cheek. 

“It’s just that…”

“We have no options.” Leo finishes. Takumi nods, and in the white bathroom there’s a sterile, technical silence. Leo shuts his eyes.

“But that doesn’t matter.” Leo says. Takumi looks up, his eyes shining under bright light fixtures. For a long moment they stare at one another.

A bit of a laugh reverberates in the room, and Takumi simpers. “That’s right.”

 

-

 

Even if seemingly every deity in the universe despises them so, Leo is certain that there is one with a shred of kindness, a piece of a heart, smiling down upon them. That is, a recreation center whose employees don’t bother to lock the doors at night. Truly, he marvels at the fact that something that would have once been so mundane is fantastic to him now. 

“They have showers!” he hears Takumi call from down the hall. Leo’s hands slide over the textured wall as he searches for a lightswitch. 

“How can you tell in this lighting?” he mutters to himself, feeling around the room as if he’s blind. A series of hurried footsteps, before there’s a snapping sound and suddenly he can see once more.

“I found the lights!” Takumi calls a moment later, and Leo can hear the smile in his voice. 

“Ah.” Leo breathes, removing his hands from the wall. Now that the ordeal is over, he finds himself feeling a little sheepish. “Where are you?” he calls. 

“Showers.” comes the reply, echoing down the hall. Leo blinks, before he sighs. 

“Where’s that?”

“Down the hall with the fire extinguisher.” 

A moment of gauging his surroundings allows Leo to find the hallway in question, accented with an angry red fire extinguisher. He pauses a moment, peering at his reflection in its oblong scarlet surface. 

Never before has Leo seen his hair stick up at such odd angles, and with a huff he attempts to smooth it down with his hand. This proves to no avail, though, and so he’s left to merely scrub at the grime on his face with bare fingers. He thinks to himself that he smells like the earth. It’s never really occurred to Leo that dirt might have a scent, but now that he’s indoors and beside himself he can tell that it’s both a calming and exhausting aroma.

Paired with leftover sweat, though, it’s not very pleasant. He pulls the sweater from around his waist, setting it on a nearby side table and heading down the hall. If the odds were truly in his favor, then the place would have a washer and dryer, too. 

Leo scratches his head as he checks each door. Most of them are locked, presumably offices or private rooms. It’s amusing to him that the employees would lock individual rooms, but not the entire facility. 

A sound erupts from below him; perhaps an old set of pipes, and as he approaches the telling sound of running water he knows he’s found the right place. 

“Takumi?”

“Yeah.” says the boy in question, pulling the ribbon from his hair and letting it fall to his waist in a cascade of pale shade. The nearby showers infect the air, and after days of traveling the humidity feels nice on Leo’s skin. He tries not to think about how they’ll be traveling again tomorrow. 

_ Focus on the present, and laugh about it while you’re not alone. _

Takumi drops the red ribbon on the bathroom counter, before he pulls a section of hair over his shoulder, trying to rake his hands through it. Leo steps forward, squinting his eyes and examining the colorless locks. 

It’s oily, certainly, and in some areas dirt is caked on in little clumps that he sets about ridding with his fingers. Takumi’s shoulders rise and fall as his hair is pulled, and in the end he steps away from Leo, releasing the hair he had taken for himself. 

“I wonder if they have soap.” he says, walking off and checking every nook of the bathroom. Leo watches him as steam begins to gather at the back of his neck. The place smells like cleaning supplies and fitness.

“Can I get under the water?” Leo asks, giving the room a quick once-over himself. Even if they can’t find soap, he decides that a soak beneath hot jets of water is better than nothing. By the time Takumi responds, Leo already has his shirt half over his head. 

“Go ahead. If I can find soap I want your help washing my hair.”

Leo nods, and whether Takumi sees the gesture or not he isn’t sure. Regardless, he pulls the long black shirt over his head, sighing in the steam and setting it on the counter next to Takumi’s ribbon. A frown etches across his face. If there aren’t any laundry supplies, then putting the old clothes back on after a shower will be far less than wonderful. 

“Find anything?” he asks, sliding his headband down his forehead. Idly he remembers when Camilla had gotten it for him, remarking upon how it would suit his hairstyle and make him look even more  _ adorable  _ than he apparently already was . A little smile quirks his lips upward.

“Maybe.” Takumi says. Leo hadn’t noticed that he’d gone back into the hallway. “I found a bunch of shaving cream.”

“What?”

“Like… a whole closet full of shaving cream.” Leo hears a door click shut, and a series of slow footsteps. The pipes beneath them creak, and Leo’s hands find the snap of his pants. “If they have a closet of shaving cream, they have to have a closet of shampoo or something.” Takumi says in a gravelly voice, and Leo thinks that he had been talking to himself. The headband is set atop his discarded shirt. 

Another door opens as his pants are dropped to the ground, and he hears a cheerful sound come from the boy in the hallway. Leo drops the rest of his clothing onto the floor and steps into the showers, sighing almost immediately as streams of warm water melt over his head. He shuts his eyes, facing the waterspout and standing still as his fringe falls heavy against his face. The film that had developed over his travel-worn skin is disturbed by the water, and he thinks about going home to bathe. 

Baths are something he’s quite fond of. He likes to take his reading into the bath with him, get what needs to be done finished. Blearily he recalls how one morning he had fallen asleep in the bath, dropping his favorite book into the water. 

“Guess what.” Takumi says, in the bathroom once more.

“Hm?”

“There were  _ two  _ closets full of soap.”

It occurs to Leo underneath the flow of warming water that all of his reading is still left at where he was before. 

“Impressive.” he says, opening his eyes. He puts a hand in his own hair, glad that he doesn’t have to deal with what Takumi does. 

“I’m coming in.” Takumi announces a moment later, and Leo turns to see him with a bottle and a bar of soap in hand. The tips of his long hair are already damp and sticking to his skin. He smiles the quaint smile he saves for moments like these before he steps under the water, turning around and shutting his eyes as trails of water navigate their way through his hair. 

Leo turns back toward the water. He stands still, focused on the feeling of remote cleanliness. When he had left, it hadn’t even occurred to him that he’d have nowhere to bathe.

“Can you help?” Takumi asks, and Leo looks toward him once more. He’s holding up the bottle of shampoo, eyes still shut. Swallowing, Leo approaches, taking the bottle as Takumi steps out from underneath the water. 

The cap clicks when it comes undone, and Leo squirts a cool, translucent liquid into his palm.

“It might be a little tougher than usual since it’s all snarled.” Takumi says. He looks over his shoulder, light brown eyes clouded beneath the mist. “Just do your best.”

Leo nods, resting his hand atop the other boy’s head. He begins smearing shampoo this way and that, combing his fingers in between strands the best he can. 

He’s always been of the opinion that Takumi’s hair is like silk. It’s dumb to think such a thing, but it’s true. Like a spun web, he thinks. A strong thread that’s only soft when it wants to be. A cloud of steam moves across his vision, and his hands slow, fingertips pressed gently upon the other boy’s scalp. It wants to be soft. 

“We might use the whole bottle.” Leo remarks, pulling his fingers through the net of silk. 

“Good thing they have two closets full.” Takumi says. His voice is soft, and a part of Leo worries that he’ll collapse. The boy turns, then, and his fears subside when he sees the glassy light of his eyes. “That’s good enough.” says Takumi. Leo pulls his hand back, letting the water rinse the suds away. 

“Your face is red.” 

Leo chuckles, pouring shampoo into his hand again. “Such is a bath.”

Takumi smiles, pulling his fringe back so that he can see clearly. 

“Let me.”

“Hm?”

“Let me wash your hair.” 

Leo pauses, and shampoo begins to drop from his hand. “Why?”

“Because you washed mine.” 

“Yes, but…”  _ Mine doesn’t take a group of five people to wash. _ He doesn’t say it, only blinks. 

Takumi comes closer in the meantime, stealing the bottle and pouring familiar cool liquid into his hand. Leo stares at his face quizzically, watches as he doesn’t quite smile but doesn’t quite frown, either. A pair of hands slide upward to frame his head, and Leo shuts his eyes, content with the sensation of fingers rubbing slow circles into his scalp. 

“Feels nice, right?”

“Yes.” he sighs.

“See, I could probably wash mine by myself. But why do that when I could have you doing this?”

“Point taken.” Leo almost nods but stops himself, not wanting the other boy’s fingers to still. His hands relax at his sides, and he feels bubbles dropping onto his feet. Takumi laughs, then. 

“You look so happy.” 

_ That’s probably because I am _ , he means to say, but all that comes out is a hum. Another laugh, and Leo feels Takumi’s breath ghost past his cheek. The fingers at either side of his head migrate forward and back, winding around his head and rubbing suds into the short hairs near his neck. 

The ministrations continue, and so he opens his eyes, meeting a pair of half-lidded ones. Takumi smiles.

“So do you.” Leo says. 

The boy slows his fingers, moving toward the longer hairs near the top. “That’s probably because I am.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a final that I've been studying all year for tomorrow. It's 1 am.  
> ...  
> I clearly have my priorities straight.  
> This was actually gonna be smut but then I realized, hey, bucko, maybe u should chill and go to bed. Bc like. Big exam. Statistics. U know, hell subject.  
> Anyway maybe there will be smut later and maybe there won't. It's a mystery. v( 9 u 9 )v


	5. Null Thursday

“They’re just missing person reports.” Leo says, face pale as his eyes bore into a tiny, black and white photograph of himself. A car blares its horn a little ways away, and Takumi sits himself down next to Leo, peering over his shoulder at the newspaper. 

This past week, they’ve gotten quite used to dark alleyways. 

“That’s good, right?” 

Leo makes a sound that’s both a sigh and a laugh. “It’s definitely not the worst case scenario.”

Takumi takes the paper from Leo’s hands, holding it close to his face. “It’s not  _ that  _ detailed of a picture, though. And I mean, who even looks at little things like this? … Isn’t this your driver’s license photo, actually? It looks like a mugshot.” 

With a crinkle, Leo snatches the paper back, turning to the next page. “Yes, mine is the bad one.” he says, rolling his eyes and pointing to a similar photo of Takumi. However, if one were to look closer, they’d notice that the photo had been taken mid-sneeze. 

“It gives me character!” Takumi argues, flailing his hands to cover up the photo. He tries to steal the paper once more, but Leo holds it out of his reach. Sidelong he can see the indignant red on Takumi’s face, and he smirks.

“Yes, it describes you  _ very  _ well.”

“Shut up!” the boy huffs, glaring, folding his arms after a moment. Leo brings the paper back down, fighting back a series of snickers. It’s ripped from his hands almost immediately and turned back to the page with Leo’s photo. “Anyway…”

Leo’s smirk dies down, and he allows the other boy to avert the subject. 

“Yeah, no one will look at this. There are tons of these things.”

“That’s a bleak outlook.”

“I think it’s the truth.” Takumi sighs, folding the paper and setting it on his lap. “But it’s good for us.”

Leo eyes his own feet, shoes scuffed from hours of walking. Another car passes by, but this one doesn’t honk an angry horn. 

_ Good for me, yes. Bad for you. _

Part of Leo wants to say this, but he knows that Takumi would hit him on the back of the head if we were to mention it. 

“Maybe we should go to the next town?” Takumi tries. “If these are printed here that might be better anyway.”

“Who’s to say they’re not printed in the next town?”

“Just thought it might be worth a shot.” 

Leo shuts his eyes. He relaxes his tired muscles, feeling grimy bricks at the back of his head. “It might be.”

“Want to?”

Now that they’re pressed for food, Leo is reluctant to spend money on transportation. There’s a war of which is more important going on in his head, but when the hunger pangs start to flare up he decides it almost instantly. 

“If you do.” he says. “I’m not sure myself.”

Takumi nods. A group of people pass by the alleyway, chattering amongst themselves. In a beat, the boy’s hands take the newspaper and crumple it into a ball. He throws it, then, into a nearby dumpster. Leo watches it sail through the air with grace, and he remembers how Takumi has always had exceptional aim. 

“I think we should.” Takumi says. He draws one leg upward, stretching out the other. “But let’s rest a while first.”

 

-

 

“It’s supposed to rain again, maybe even snow.” Takumi says as he leaves the shop, small bag in hand. 

“That’s ridiculous.” Leo mutters. “It’s the very end of Spring.”

The boy shrugs, digging into the contents of the bag. “Hey, I don’t control the weather.” he says, before handing Leo an energy bar. “You’re gonna need it.”

Leo eyes the thing with distaste but takes it anyway, tearing away the plastic. “We should be eating healthier.”

“Yeah, I think so too. Not like it’s a choice, though.”

He hums before taking a bite. In their predicament any food is good food, but still he worries for his health. Lately he’s been thinking about how if they keep going on like this, they’ll both deteriorate in a number of ways. Leo’s eyes move to Takumi, who has already stuffed half a bar into his mouth. 

Must be hungry. 

“When we reach the next town…” Leo starts, before he falters. He acts like he’s taking a bite, but really he’s just trying to think of what to say. 

“Yeah?”

He sighs. “I wonder if we should find a way to stay there.”

Takumi halts his movements, before he resumes and tosses the last bit of food into his mouth. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not gonna cut my hair or wear a mask or anything.”

Leo nods. “I know, but I can’t help but wonder what will happen if we keep going like this.”

“That doesn’t matter.” Takumi says, automatic. Leo remembers their prior agreement, then, and the thought makes him feel both warm and incredibly uneasy.

_ It will be okay, because it’s you an I. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I'm... sO TIRED. That exam felt like a goddamn marathon. Tomorrow's chapter will be much longer and more important. If it weren't for the fact that I've committed to daily updates, I'd be dead by now due to the tiny chapter lengths in this fic. ;w;
> 
> Hhh good night...


	6. Carmine Friday

“See? They  _ do  _ look at them!”

Takumi groans, voice strained and breathy as his feet pounce upon the ground second by second. They rush past a hoard of people, powerful gusts marking their tracks. Pain burns in Leo’s chest, but he knows that he has to keep going, and so he focuses on nothing but following the wildly flailing ponytail in front of him. 

It’s early in the morning and the sky is dyed a glowing blush. A clamor follows them close behind, and in his head Leo curses himself for not being more careful.

_ “It’s the guys on the news!”  _ a small child had said, more than likely loud enough for any neighboring nations to hear. Of course, their being in a heavily populated place had led to both the attention of authorities and the bystanders around them. As a result, the calm thought floats through Leo’s mind that he might dye his hair. He’d talk to Takumi about it, but no way would the boy want to cut or dye his own. Leo wouldn’t want him to, either. 

He nearly trips, stumbling, but gets back on his feet, glaring fiery daggers into that swinging ponytail. No way is it going to end here.

“Stop!” calls whoever is tailing them, and Takumi looks over his shoulder, meeting Leo’s eyes for a fraction of a second before peering back farther. He’s panting wildly, face flushed and gaze on fire. Once more he meets Leo’s eyes, before he makes a sharp right turn, and with only a millisecond of confusion Leo turns as well. 

The alleyway they enter reeks of garbage and dark. Takumi catches Leo’s eye for the third time, before he sprints forward, and Leo realizes that before them lies a rusted, chain link fence. He falters, heart stuttering, but Takumi doesn’t stop. The boy collides with the fence, its links rattling, and without an ounce of hesitation he starts climbing. 

Leo shakes his head, running forward once more. There’s a cloudy thought somewhere in the depths of his mind that sounds a bit like  _ I have absolutely no idea how to climb a fence _ but he pays it no attention, instead wincing when his fingers grip the winding metal. 

His entire body aches but he pulls himself up, feet kicking for leverage, and by the time he’s latched on to even the midpoint of the fence Takumi is hopping off the other side. The boy turns, face paling and mouth gaping.

“What are you doing?” he balks, grabbing at the fence with white knuckles.

Leo grits his teeth, putting one hand above the other. Sweat runs down his back, and he knows that under any normal circumstance he would never, ever allow himself to even  _ think  _ about saying what he’s about to say.

“I have  _ no idea  _ what I’m doing, Takumi!”

“Oh, come on!” Takumi bites, already climbing the fence again. In but a second he perches near the top, reaching out his arm for Leo to take. 

Heart hammering, Leo doesn’t have time to think about how it must hurt to pull the entirety of his weight over an old, derelict fence. A clamor resounds, and he realizes that their pursuer has entered the alleyway behind them. 

… Pursuers. They called backup. Leo manages to reach the top of the fence with the other boy’s help, and, straddling the top, he struggles to drop down to the other side. 

“Just jump!” Takumi urges, back on the ground and panicking. 

The thought hammers in Leo’s head that it’s only a Friday morning. He does as he’s told, throwing his legs to the ground and wincing as he lands wrong.

_ You get up early on your days off to read? _ Elise would say, face contorted in bemusement.  _ That’s so boring! _

Takumi grabs his wrist and they’re running again, hearts palpitating as the fence rattles from their pursuers not seconds later. 

When Takumi’s ponytail slaps him in the face, he thinks to himself, wind rushing through his skin, that he’d much rather be  _ boring  _ Leo than  _ running from the police  _ Leo. 

 

-

 

They’re finally given peace at the edge of town, and as Takumi falls to his knees, coughing into the dirt, Leo finds that he’s soon following suit. His forehead touches the ground and he clutches at his midsection, only now noticing the fog in his head and the burning in his throat. His fringe digs into the dirt, and he curls in on himself, breathing in what feels like fire. 

A hand is at his back, then, doing nothing but staying there. Slowly, Leo opens his eyes, swallowing flame. All he sees are shadows and the filthy earth. The hand starts to move, and he feels his shirt bunch up from both pressure and sweat. A tear falls from his eye, and it’s never occurred to him that it’s possible for running to induce  _ crying _ . 

That, or he’s hysterical. 

He thinks about how this isn’t the last time, and he’s humiliated. This is the absolute worst, he thinks, the absolute worst, and there’s a nasally cough to his left. The hand on his back drags to his side, and he clenches his eyes shut once again, not wanting to see anything anymore. He’s pulled upward and into something uncomfortable; a hug, for lack of a better word. A sweaty, breathy hug, and he wishes that Takumi would just let him go. His limbs sag and his hands drag in the dirt, and a quiet hiccup leaves him. 

Their breaths are sirens like the wind, and beneath a wilting tree Leo feels conflict. It’s better to cry to someone else than to the dirt, he knows, but as a stinging droplet falls from his chin, he wonders if it’s alright to cry forever.

 

-

 

“You need to sleep.”

Leo shuts his eyes. “No, you need to sleep.” he says. As if to punctuate his statement, Takumi yawns. 

“I’m not gonna sleep unless you do.”

To that, Leo says nothing. There’s a beat of silence, before a weight settles itself on his shoulder. “Sleep.” Takumi says again. 

“We can’t both sleep.” Leo murmurs. Indeed, it had started to snow. Spring is an enigma in itself. 

“No one will find us in this weather.”

“I don’t want to risk it.” 

A snowflake wanders into their makeshift shelter, straying from a nonexistent breeze. The back of the old shop is cold and hard, but it’s not yet icy, and so they take advantage of it while they can. The shade of a decrepit awning is both appreciated and shunned. 

Leo stretches out his legs, and Takumi huffs into his shoulder.

“You shouldn’t be here.” Leo says, sudden. He falters at the words that had left his mouth, but allows them, as they had been true. The snowflake that had drifted in touches the ground, fading. 

Takumi sits up, and Leo feels an ardent gaze at his side. 

“As if.”

Leo’s eyes droop. “I’m serious.”

“You’re an idiot.”

It’s still midday. Leo sniffs, feeling heavy in his head. “I should never have told you.”

“Shut up.”

“It was wrong of me to drag you this far.”

“Shut  _ up _ , Leo.”

“It’s the truth.”

Takumi sighs, heavy and angry. Leo can only find the strength to blink. His stomach churns in hunger and his legs tighten with every movement. He can feel vexation radiating from the other boy, but he’s used to the feeling. He’s been the subject of it before. 

Not in a long while, though. Leo drags his nails against the concrete beneath them. He thinks about how Takumi had looked so afraid when running that morning. It hurts to think about. 

There’s a sound, and from a peripheral view Leo can see that Takumi has drawn his knees upward and rested his head atop them. Leo looks forward again, eyes following particular specks of white as they fall. 

When Takumi is angry, he’s irreparably cold. Leo wonders if he’s the same way.

“Don’t say that to me.” Takumi mutters into himself. Leo watches the snow and says nothing.  “Don’t act like I’m here because you forced me. I’m here because I decided to come.”

Leo sets his hand flat, feeling the rough texture of concrete at his fingertips. Of course Takumi would think that. 

“You wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t said anything.”

“That’s right. I’d be looking for you, though.”

“No, you wouldn’t.”

“I would.”

“You wouldn’t, because you would know why I left.”

“Sure.” Takumi says. “And that would just make me worry even more.”

“No.”

Takumi brings his head back up. Leo sniffs again, and his head grows cloudier. Something flows in the back of his throat. 

“No. No one knew but me.” Leo says.

  
“I would know that something was wrong.”

“That’s what you’d think, but…” Warmth. “That’s what you’d think, that’s what you’d tell yourself, but you wouldn’t be able to do anything.”

The sound of a car does nothing to distract them. If he weren’t so sullen, perhaps Leo might wonder who’s crazy enough to drive in this weather. 

“Quit acting like you know what I would do.” Takumi says. His voice still has that edge to it, that distant edge. He reminds Leo of the snow. “You have no idea what I would do.”

“But I do. I know you well enough for that.”

“You’re wrong.”

Leo sniffs. His nose is running from the cold, he thinks. 

“Only I know what I would do.”

“Or so you think.”

“Or so I  _ know _ . Don’t belittle me. I know myself better than anyone, and I know that I’d go after you.”

Warmth, again. Leo recognizes the presence of something warm. 

“I know that I’d go after you, because I love you.” Takumi says. It’s funny to hear him say that when his voice is so cold and scary. “I wonder if you even hear me when I t--... uh.”

Leo blinks. Takumi stills both verbally and physically, and despite the fact that he’s in  _ I’m mad at you _ mode, Leo turns to him. The boy’s eyes are wide and the tip of his nose is flushed from the cold. His hair still sticks to his face in some places due to sweat, and Leo has to remind himself not to do anything about it. 

“What?” he asks, and Takumi blinks. 

“You, uh. Your nose is bleeding.”

Leo sits there, not really registering what Takumi had just said. The boy reaches for his face, then, and Leo shuts his eyes when a pair of fingers pinch the bridge of his nose. 

“Are you okay?” Takumi asks. Leo seems to remember himself, then, and he pulls the edge of his sleeve over his hand, holding it under his nose. Already he can feel blood soaking through the thin fabric of his shirt.

“It must be the air.” Leo says. Takumi frowns, expression still irritated. Leo pulls the sleeve away, eyes boring into the auburn stain. Red would never make itself known in the company of black. 

“A shame that we lost your sweater.”

Leo puts his hand back where it was, and Takumi continues to pinch. Thinking back, he had probably lost it when climbing the fence. They’re quiet for a while, refusing to meet each other’s eyes. Another car passes by. 

Takumi sighs.

“Leo.”

Leo doesn’t feel like saying anything, and so he simply shifts his gaze to show that he’s listening. 

“I don’t care what you think. I’m here.”

The taste of blood has never been something he’s minded. He’s certainly not fond of it, but he realizes that he’s not quite as disgusted by the concept of blood as most people. Leo looks anywhere but at Takumi’s face. 

He thinks about how some people bleed dark, and some people bleed bright. 

_ Father had bled dark. _

“Say something.” Takumi sighs. His eyes are a warm color, as they always are, and his voice has begun to thaw. Leo tells himself he doesn’t notice. 

He shuts his eyes, and they sit in silence. The taste of blood is bitter and his throat burns. He doesn’t want to say anything. 

_ I love you, too _ . 

Thinking it is good enough, he decides. Thinking it is fine. Leo is in no mood to speak. The pinching of his nose begins to loosen. Leo removes his sleeve again, blinking at the red staining his hands. Blood had soaked through his shirt in no time. 

“Say something.” Takumi repeats. Leo merely shakes his head, and the pressure at his nose leaves completely. Too much effort, he decides. It will just have to stop bleeding on its own. 

 

-

 

Leo wakes later in the evening, his head still a marsh. The snow is stopped, a thin sheet over the ground. 

He isn’t sure when he had fallen asleep, but part of him is glad that he was able, regardless, and that they hadn’t been caught by anyone troublesome. 

Takumi lets out a breath in his slumber, head somewhere between Leo’s collarbone and shoulder. 

A cold feeling worms its way into Leo’s conscious. He worries, as Takumi takes another breath. 

He worries about how paranoia affects his judgment, and how he forgets who he’s talking to when he’s not all there. 

Another breath, this one with a small sound.

Takumi takes longer to wake up than usual. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *procrastinates in getting to the actual plot* Parkour.


	7. Black Saturday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I just want them to be happy!" I say, as I make them suffer.

Takumi bleeds bright and Leo hates it. He considers himself a bit sick for thinking it, but he much prefers the dark blood of his father to that of Takumi. 

“I didn’t even know it was there.” 

Leo scrutinizes the wound, eyes narrowing. It’s dry now, smeared bright in a messy pattern and on the underside of Takumi’s arm. Perhaps it had been adrenaline pulling his attention away from it, but in the morning Takumi had complained about an odd burning, stinging sensation.

There are some people, Leo thinks, who shouldn’t bleed. 

“It’ll be fine, though.” Takumi says, putting his arm back down. His shoulders bounce in an unkempt shrug, and Leo sits patiently. “I mean, it’s already healing.”

Slowly, Leo nods, eyes moving somewhere else. He thinks about how shades of red can range from crimson to poppy, and with time he starts to think about how whites darken to grays, and grays darken to blacks. 

Yesterday had been dyed the colors of winter. Today, the sky is blue.

 

-

 

And the sun is blinding. By now he’s gotten past the soreness in his feet, building callouses that he doesn’t think fit his demeanor. It’s just a part of life, and so is the ever-changing sky. 

“But it has to have been here.” Leo says, mostly to himself. The fence is just a daunting as it had been the day before, but upon it lies no snagged sweater. Takumi pockets his hands. 

“Maybe it just fell off?”

“I would have felt it.”

“Then, you felt it snag on the fence?”

Leo blinks, peering to the side. “I was a bit distracted.” 

Takumi shrugs, then, and he steps backward in the melted snow. The ground looks like the sky. 

“We’ll make do without it.”

 

-

 

“I can’t believe how ill-prepared we are.”

“A week later, and you’re saying that.” Takumi sighs. “We’ve been over this. There was no time.”

Leo takes a bite of stale bread. It’s dry on his tongue, but of course he can’t complain. 

“I should have gotten  _ something. _ ”

“And gotten caught in the process.” Takumi says, shutting his eyes. “You don’t need to feel so guilty about it. We’re alive, aren’t we?”

Leo grimaces, quite sure the bread had cut the side of his mouth. 

“We apparently look so miserable that a stranger gave us stale bread on the side of the road. And we’re eating it. Aren’t I allowed to feel sad?”

Takumi starts to say something, but apparently decides against it. A breath hitches in the back of his throat as he attempts to swallow a chunk of dry bread. 

“Complaining isn’t going to help a thing.” he finally says, clearing his throat afterward. 

_ I never knew you to be an optimist. _

Leo wonders what the boy had been trying to say before. 

“Say what you’d like, you can’t deny that it’s my fault.” 

Takumi groans, finishing the last of his bread. “When I first met you--” he starts, scooting into Leo’s line of vision. “What I hated most was your arrogance. Now, it’s the exact opposite. Something can’t go wrong without you thinking it’s your fault. Hell, you catch a cold and you consider it your fault.”

Leo scoffs, finishing his own bread. He meets the boy’s eyes, then, challenging, yet not hostile. “You’re exactly the same.”

A sour smile. Takumi tilts his head, eyes like crescents. “I am. And sometimes, I hate myself.”

 

-

 

A light pink dusts Takumi’s cheeks and the boy looks elsewhere, eyes wide and caught on something far away. Leo pauses in realization.

“Do you think it was the fence?”

Takumi blinks, gaze flitting to meet Leo’s before stumbling away once more. 

“I… probably. That makes sense.”

They’re at an awkward angle and Leo can tell that Takumi despises it. His arm is raised so that Leo can inspect the cut on its underside, and with a telltale gushing sensation the boy had wondered if it was bleeding once more. Takumi does the flicking thing with his eyes again, and Leo feels his lips quirk upward. 

“Why are you embarrassed?” 

“Because you’re sitting there staring at my armpit and it’s weird!” Takumi huffs, pulling his arm down. A part of Leo is glad that he can’t see the cut anymore. After this revelation, though, he catches the way that Takumi winces. 

“Does it sting?”

Another huff, and Takumi grabs the opposite side of his arm. “What do you think?”

It’s not an overly big wound, spanning only from the base of his arm to about the midpoint of the upper section, but the flow of blood is still worrying. Leo thinks to himself that it’s a soft section of skin, and a part that moves around a lot. He shuts his eyes.

“Keep it still.” he says.

“Huh?”

“Don’t move it much.” his eyes open again, and he sees the red on the other boy’s cheeks receding. There’s a spot on his dark shirt that’s dyed, just like the end of Leo’s sleeve. 

A lot like the skin of his father. 

He wishes that Takumi would stop bleeding. 

 

-

 

“It’s weird that there’s nothing about what happened.”

Leo nods. Another paper printed with their portraits, this one saying that they may have been seen nearby. They stand not far from civilization, yet no one points them out. Perhaps Takumi had been right, to an extent. That is, about no one reading the articles. 

Leo appreciates that Takumi had said  _ what happened  _ instead of  _ what you did.  _

Nothing about danger. Nothing bad. Just, missing. That’s all it says. Part of Leo wonders why and another part thanks whatever force of luck had made it so. 

_ What I did was wrong, because I was angry.  _

“But it’s like I said.” Takumi’s voice pulls Leo away from his thoughts. “Those girls probably vouched for you.” 

_ They didn’t know that I was angry. _

 

-

 

Leo is not the sort to take idiocy well. 

That’s why, later that day, when Takumi insists he’s fine despite the fact that the skin around his cut is an angry red, Leo shushes him immediately. 

“It’s infected.” he states to thin air. Takumi sighs.

“Yes.” 

“This. Is not good.”

“And we can’t afford to worry about it. Honestly, I’ll be fine.”

Leo glares at the wound as if it’s caused him a personal offense. Takumi puts his arm down again, his expression a scowl. 

“I’m not sure you know how infections work.” Leo mutters. “That, and it won’t stop bleeding.”

“Simple. Next time we come across some cloth we’ll wrap it up.” Takumi says. Leo gives him a dry look, and for a moment Takumi battles it with his own, before he gives in and shuts his eyes. “Ugh.”

“It needs medical attention.”

“It needs to go away.”

“It won’t without medical attention.”

Takumi levels him with a serious expression. “I know that, but I’m not going to leave you.” 

Leo looks away, then, and his chest does something funny. He can only feel Takumi’s gaze burning into him more. 

“Even if I collapse from a fever, you’re going to carry me. I’m  _ not  _ leaving you.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Leo murmurs. He hadn’t meant to say anything, but the words had left his mouth regardless. “There’s no way I could carry you.”

Takumi laughs, then. “But you’d try.”

Leo doesn’t deny it. He sees the way that the other boy’s eyes lift when he smiles, and he doesn’t deny it. 

 

-

 

Takumi is laughing gleefully, his eyes playing tricks with the light. Leo cover his face with his hands.

“And your eyes get all squinty, and you do this weird thing with your nose, like you have to sniffle every time you smile!”

His hands are pulled downward, and those dancing eyes are right there again. Leo grits his teeth and gets the urge to back away. Blood trickles beneath his skin, and he can feel his lip quivering. 

“You really need to smile more often. Like, actualy smile. It’s funny and nice.” Takumi says, grinning still. 

“Well,  _ you _ …” Leo starts, his voice indignant. “ _ You  _ do too!”

“Really?”

“Really!”

Leo thinks to himself that he’s never going to smile again. He had, earlier, and after just a moment of it Takumi had burst out laughing, going on about how well it suited his face. Inwardly, Leo pouts. He thinks that he smiles plenty around the other boy, and he isn’t sure what, exactly, had brought this sudden bout of laughter on. 

“Why’s that?” Takumi urges. Leo’s lips stretch thin, and after some silence Takumi just starts snickering again. 

“Your face is so red.”

“Yours always is, when you smile.” Leo mutters. “Your face gets red and your eyebrows go way up your forehead. It’s like your entire face opens up.” 

Abruptly, Takumi stops laughing. His complexion becomes a mixture of pink and pale white. 

“... Really?”

Leo clings to the advantage. “Really! It’s-- it’s nice!”

Takumi sits stiff, his shoulders drawn tight. Leo keeps his lips pursed, his eyes wide and alert. 

A bird caws loudly somewhere. 

“Oh.” Takumi breathes. His face grows red, and he looks to the side. Within himself, Leo feels his own laughter bubbling to the surface. Takumi simpers, then, and starts to laugh as well.

 

-

 

There’s something in the murk and Leo stumbles, his balance slipping to the left, but he regains his composure soon after. He’s got a tight hold on Takumi’s hand and their shoes are soaking, pattering into the water-laden ground with every move forward. 

They had been caught again, this time by a dog wearing an immaculate vest. It occurs to Leo, then, that they’re being tailed by a search party. A sharp left turn, and he thinks about just how stupid he can be. 

That damn sweater. 

Behind them the dog keeps barking, resounding throughout the alley tunnels along with a flurry of heavy footfalls splashing in the miniature sea. Melted snow is a hindrance, Leo decides right at this moment, and Takumi’s grip tightens. 

He’s probably thinking about how it might be best to be caught. Leo wishes that he would stop running, but he never does. It would be best for Takumi to stop. The dog isn’t out to hurt them, surely. 

It’s likely that either one of their families had panicked a great deal, sending out this mess. For the life of him, Leo can’t think of any other reason to chase after two supposedly innocent grown men.

_ Supposedly,  _ indeed. It’s still odd that there had been no details of what had happened. 

Somewhere, it’s raining. 

Takumi trips, then, and with a heavy thud he splashes into the water.  _ Sudden.  _ Leo skids to his knees behind, already trying to pull him up.

Somewhere, there’s thunder.

“ _I_ _swear to every god there is, if I have to carry you--_ ”

A hitched breath, and he realizes that he does. Leo is reminded of the lightning in an abandoned building when he sees that Takumi’s eyes are closed.

_ What? _

Leo holds him by his shoulders, and Takumi doesn’t move.

_ What? What…? _

His eyes ward away tepid air and the footsteps march ever closer. Cold water soaks into his skin, and Takumi’s head lolls to the side. Leo puts an arm behind his back, lifting him, and for the first time Leo sees not love, but a boy with mud and exhaustion caked to his everything.

And he had done that. 

He had dragged him this far, reducing him to this. This time, no one argues. Leo can feel the boy’s heart pattering, and he furrows his eyebrows, lips drawing apart to suck in another shallow breath. The air is damp, he thinks to himself. 

The weather today reminds him of a sunshower, what with the bright sky and the puddles on the ground. He thinks that it would be like a new beginning, a sort of cleansing. Takumi’s hair dips into the water, and Leo drags it out, his breath breaking free once more. He can feel something thrumming through his veins, a lot like the bad kind of electricity. 

Footsteps turn the corner, and water splashes onto the chalky brick walls. Takumi sleeps soundly.

_ I killed him, too. _

 

-

 

The needle punctures Takumi’s skin with expert precision, and Leo winces just at the sight. 

“He fainted from the fever, but it’s lucky that you’re here when you are.” the nurse says, withdrawing the syringe. “It’s best to catch tetanus early.”

Leo focuses on the tile beneath his feet. Next to pristine white, his shoes are grimy beyond repair. 

This is the first person he’s spoken to apart from Takumi in a week, and he feels himself at a bit of a loss. 

“That’s good, then.” he tries. At that, the nurse says nothing. Leo looks up, eyeing the way Takumi’s still-too-dirty hair splays itself across white sheets. 

Something feels empty, and the sky is not overhead. Rather, his new source of light is a fluorescent bulb, white and obnoxious. In this room, there isn’t a lot of color. 

“There are people waiting for you.” says the nurse. Leo focuses on Takumi, the way his chest rises and falls. There’s a bandage wrapped around his arm, now, and the area had been scrubbed clean.

They’d wash fully later. 

“But… I’ll tell them you’re too drained to speak to them right now.” Leo looks up, and the nurse appears troubled. “It’s true, isn’t it?” 

Leo only stares at them. He stares, and after a moment he watches them leave, the door clicking shut in their gait. 

Ah, the door. The door is the one thing in the room that isn’t pitch white. It’s the color of sand. 

Takumi’s breath makes a slight sound, and Leo is drawn back to reality. His eyes fall to a half-lidded state, and he breathes, even, as he looks at the boy on the bright white bed. 

_ You didn’t mean to do it, but you killed him. You killed your father. You hated him all your life and one night all that hatred came to a head when you saw him harassing a pair of girls. _

Takumi grows closer as Leo steps forward. 

_ You had only meant to push him away but he had hit his head on a sharp corner. Xander, Camilla, and Elise were nowhere nearby. You panicked as he bled dark. _

Leo’s fingertips grace the white sheets, winding through Takumi’s hair. His eyelashes rest upon his cheeks, and Leo remembers how he always looks so nice when he sleeps. 

_ They looked at you in shock and you know they had right to. You had just killed an elderly man at midnight. _

He sits on the edge of the bed, weight dipping the mattress. The urge to lie back upon soft cushions nags in his head, but he resists, instead putting his elbows on his knees and rubbing circles into his temples. 

_ You couldn’t tell your siblings that you killed their father. You know that Xander might have done the same at some point, but you can’t bring yourself to tell them that you did it in such an impoverished manner. The black of the road had been a void for the blood. _

He thinks about what’s going to happen now.

_ You called him because he was who you were closest with, and upon seeing you at your worst he had decided to stay at your side. _

He should never have called him. 

_ And it was nice at first, being alone together. It’s nice to run away, but after a while you start to remember all the things you’ve left behind. _

Leo puts his hands down.

_ And when you remember them, you forget what’s right in front of you. Father had bled dark and despite all that you tried, you couldn’t forget it while Takumi bled bright. _

_ They had both been bleeding but you decided to remember the dark instead of face the bright. _

A voice passes by the sandy door. 

_ “It’ll be okay.” _

Leo thinks to himself that he’s always been a pessimist. The light in the room buzzes, and everything around him smells sterile. 

_ I love you. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! I had a school dance last night, and it was my very last one before I graduate, so I couldn't miss it. I figured I'd have the energy to update after I got home, but evidently I partied too hard. Ahaha... and by that I mean I sprayed too much sweat all over everyone I know.  
> Anyway, thank you for reading! Oh man, just... god I'm never doing daily updates again. This killed me. I'm definitely a quality over quantity kind of person, my word.   
> Thank you for reading! There may or may not be an epilogue, I dunno, but it certainly won't be tOMMOR O W JESUS WHY DID I MAKE MYSELF DO THIS.  
> ... Yeah, I'll probably epilogue. You know what? Yeah! This isn't the end! This ending would be way too solemn and I don't think it communicates what I was trying to say at all. This is mostly me just thinking to myself I GOTTA GET IT DONE I GOTTA GET IT DONE and ensuing word vomit.   
> Not even an epilogue entirely. Another chapter? I don't know what to call it, but while this is the ending of the plot, it's certainly not the emotional outcome I was going for.   
> And so, I'm not done just yet. 
> 
> Also, sorry about the pacing of this chapter. I was just... I'm so tired.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi I'm Bun and I have no idea what the rating will do.
> 
> Also, this is... obnoxiously short for me, because I literally only found out about LeoKumi week three hours ago. I'll try not to scream at the word count, just for you.
> 
> ....... screaM S hopefully... hopefully the other chapters will be longer buT I'VE NEVER DONE DAILY UPDATES BEFORE AND I


End file.
